In 2005 Ray Kurzweil came out with a book called The Singularity Is Near. In this book he describes the exponential growth of computer technology. If this exponential growth continues, it will begin to affect science and technology, causing them to accelerate too. The end result will be the formation of a world-wide intelligence. Since this super-intelligence will far exceed what any one human being can think, it isn't comprehensible to us. Kurzweil likened this to the singularity you find in a black hole. Once you cross the event horizon of the black hole you cannot return and you cannot know what is in there... the technological singularity is similar. We are incapable of understanding what will happen because we're not smart enough.
As we've improved computer technology it's halfed in size and doubled in speed once every year and a half or so. This is called Moore's Law. The chart below shows how, as computers have evolved, they have rapidly increased in speed, often while getting cheaper.
Here is are a couple of timelines that will lead us to this expected moment where we won't be able to understand how computers work because they will be smarter than we are:
Trans humans would be humans supported by this computer hyper-intelligence. Being so smart, it would eradicate diseases like Cancer and create technology that wouldn't destroy the planet we live on. Just as the industrial revolution created a complete change in how we live, the machine intelligence revolution will once again make the future look completely unlike the past. Trans humans would not die of old age, they would live as long as they want to. In many cases, they may simply upload themselves into virtual environments and leave their physical bodies behind entirely.
Unlike most dystopian science fiction, Kurzweil and many proponents of The Singularity believe this will be an incredibly disruptive but unprecedented time of human expansion.
In 2005 Ray Kurzweil came out with a book called The Singularity Is Near. In this book he describes the exponential growth of computer technology. If this exponential growth continues, it will begin to affect science and technology, causing them to accelerate too. The end result will be the formation of a world-wide intelligence. Since this super-intelligence will far exceed what any one human being can think, it isn't comprehensible to us. Kurzweil likened this to the singularity you find in a black hole. Once you cross the event horizon of the black hole you cannot return and you cannot know what is in there... the technological singularity is similar. We are incapable of understanding what will happen because we're not smart enough.
As we've improved computer technology it's halfed in size and doubled in speed once every year and a half or so. This is called Moore's Law. The chart below shows how, as computers have evolved, they have rapidly increased in speed, often while getting cheaper.
Here is are a couple of timelines that will lead us to this expected moment where we won't be able to understand how computers work because they will be smarter than we are:
Trans humans would be humans supported by this computer hyper-intelligence. Being so smart, it would eradicate diseases like Cancer and create technology that wouldn't destroy the planet we live on. Just as the industrial revolution created a complete change in how we live, the machine intelligence revolution will once again make the future look completely unlike the past. Trans humans would not die of old age, they would live as long as they want to. In many cases, they may simply upload themselves into virtual environments and leave their physical bodies behind entirely.
Unlike most dystopian science fiction, Kurzweil and many proponents of The Singularity believe this will be an incredibly disruptive but unprecedented time of human expansion.
Singularity University is an organization dedicated to helping people get ready for this radical change. This isn't a group of whacky sci-fi nerds. Supporters of this idea include many of the richest, most influential people in the world.